Many sources are confirming the United States Commerce Department has placed tariffs upward of 30% on solar panels imported into the U.S. from China. In a recent news release SolarWorld reports:

The U.S. Department of Commerce issued anti-dumping duties of 31.14 percent on imports of solar cells and panels from Suntech, 31.22 percent from Trina Solar, 31.18 percent from other companies that had requested but not received individual duty determinations and 249.96 percent from all other Chinese producers, including those controlled by the Chinese government.

The department also announced that in light of a massive, evasive surge of imports ahead of the determination, these new duties would apply retroactively 90 days. As a result of this determination of so-called critical circumstances, importers of Chinese solar products must post bonds or cash deposits in the full amounts of anti-dumping duties on imports from now forward as well as back to mid-February.

SolarWorld’s response: SolarWorld, which lead the coalition of solar module manufacturers in filing the trade cases last fall,  sees the solar policy decision as a way to restore industry competition.

“Today, SolarWorld and the many industry players who embrace the sustainable efficiency gains and price declines that come from fair competition can take heart that the U.S. government is standing up against Big China Solar,” said Gordon Brinser, president of SolarWorld Industries America Inc. and leader of the Coalition for Solar Manufacturing (CASM) in the release. “Commerce’s careful measures could help thwart China’s illegal drive to control the solar market and supplant manufacturers and jobs in America, the very country that invented, pioneered and innovated solar to today’s mainstream viability.”

Brinser attributes many layoffs and bankruptcies of U.S. solar manufacturing companies to China’s trade practices. He predicts the the tariffs will help grow domestic solar manufacturing and fair global competition and so boost U.S. jobs and energy security.

These tariffs are in addition to anti-subsidy tariffs of about 3 to 4% imposed in March. One may think this would make Chinese solar manufacturers not so happy. It’s certainly not positive news, but it was not unexpected.

What this means to Chinese solar manufacturers: This decision has been looming for months, giving Chinese companies some time to regroup and prepare for the worst. Many of these companies are completely capable of manufacturing outside of China in places such as Taiwan. For some of them, manufacturing outside of the country is even cheaper.

But one implication that could be painful for Chinese companies involves third-party engineering assessments. In order to get a loan, banks require plants to be inspected by a third-party to ensure bankablilty. The third party writes a report, making sure the company is performing quality practices. This process can take at least four months and can be expensive.  If a company moves to a new location it will need a new assessment. This is where Chinese companies who move their manufacturing may experience setbacks.

What this means for the U.S. Market:While Brinser sees the tariffs as a move that will boost the U.S. solar industry, others are not so sure. Robert D. Hansen, president and CEO, Dow Corning Corporation & Andrew E. Tometich, president, Hemlock Semiconductor Group have a different view on the matter, which they have stated in a recent release:

We understand that the U.S. Department of Commerce’s (DOC) preliminary finding in the SolarWorld trade case regarding imports of Chinese-made solar panels is intended to protect the U.S. market. We believe, however, that the consequences of this decision will have exactly the opposite effect, proving to be devastating to the growth and adoption of solar technology in the U.S., job growth, as well as to our competitive leadership of this industry worldwide.

This decision will make it more expensive and difficult for the U.S. to have access to the most proven and cost-effective solar technologies –weakening the U.S. solar industry at a critical point in its development. Indeed, while Bonn, Germany-based Solar World and its co-litigants may initially benefit from this decision, the industry overall in the U.S. will suffer – some economists believe that thousands of U.S. jobs could be lost, about half tied directly to the industry.

As global companies, Dow Corning and Hemlock Semiconductor understand the importance of fair trade practices. This is a complex issue; at the same time, our nascent economic recovery, as well as this industry’s potential for delivering long-term economic value and energy independence, require a long-term solution that enables all countries and the businesses operating in these countries the opportunity to benefit from the growth of this technology.

In our view, both the U.S. and China will benefit by removing barriers to trade and promoting collaboration and open trade policies rather than introducing measures or litigation that impose trade barriers. Resolving trade concerns through an adversarial confrontation serves only to impede technological advancement and job creation, as well as the path towards energy independence and clean energy.

I’m also hearing this response from other companies. For instance, Steve Grippi of Clenergy thinks the news is a bit scary.

“It’s like socks and shoes,” he says. “We (the racking companies) are the socks and Chinese solar modules are the shoes. If the price of shoes goes up significantly, there’s no need for the socks.”

Grippi says many of his company’s projects are now completely on hold because of the decision. Solar racks are sitting empty waiting for panels that may not come. This also means tens of thousands of jobs are now on hold including installers, system integrators and engineering companies, which is why he views this decision as counterproductive.

“In a perfect world, sure it’d be great to manufacture everything here at home, but that’s not the reality of things,” says Grippi. “I view China as another state. We get our oranges from Florida because that’s the best place for oranges. We get cars from Detroit because that’s the best place for manufacturing cars. And we get our solar panels from China because that’s the best place to make solar panels.”

In regard to the assumption that people will now buy American solar panels instead, Grippi notes that the tariffs make the cost of Chinese solar modules about the same as those made in the U.S. He says a major problem is that the U.S. doesn’t have the manufacturing capacity to fill the demand.

“We may have the capacity in three to five years, but by that time billions of dollars and thousands of jobs will be lost,” he says. “In China you can build a plant in three months because of their subsides and government policies. Here, there are so many restrictions (having plans approved, environmental reports, and more) so it takes longer. Also, without any projects, we won’t even have the revenue to build these manufacturing plants.”

Grippi views Chinese solar panels as an inexpensive component that makes U.S. solar projects work. He says without them wouldn’t have grid parity and so China should not have been penalized.

It’s not over till it’s over: After today’s ruling, Commerce will immediately initiate a final, more in-depth phase of its investigation, including examinations of solar operations and financial records in China. “We look forward to seeing Commerce’s careful investigations and findings continue to develop through September,” says Brinser.

Solar Power World

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Imagine opening your mailbox and never seeing another electric bill. This may seem like a dream for the future, but with today’s technology it’s actually possible to build houses that produce as much power as they generate. “Net-zero” homes have made headlines here and there, but at such high prices they are more of a novelty than an option for today’s house hunters. One company, however, set out to change that, and succeeded. Such homes are available—with people living in them right now— at an affordable market price.

Nexus EnergyHomes’ entire energy electrical system is tied to the electrical or utility grid for net metering. Power is produced during sunshine and drawn from the grid at night, or in periods of extensive cloud cover, to produce annual, zero or near zero electricity demand off the grid.

Homebuilder Nexus EnergyHomes has done some innovative work in historic downtown Frederick, Md. The company’s 2,000-sq ft, single-family dwellings in the 55-lot North Pointe GeoSolar Community are the first of their kind. These EnergyHomes sport features including a PV solar array, geothermal heating and cooling, energy recovery ventilation, LED and CFL lights, Energy Star Appliances, windows with high-performance low-E glass and structurally insulated panels. Such energy-efficient options can be found in similar home designs but with significantly higher price tags.

“Anyone can spend a million dollars and create a net-zero home,” says Mike Murphy, construction division president for Nexus. “But to do it at market price was quite a feat.”

Murphy says from the beginning he and Nexus EnergyHomes President Paul Zanecki were determined to find a formula to balance energy efficiency and cost.

“We knew that in this economy, there was a demand for an affordable net-zero home,” Murphy says. “Our goal was to offer these homes to the masses, to change the way homes are built in this country.”

But finding the right recipe wasn’t easy. The team spent several years working with the National Association of Home Builders (NAHB) with funding from Building America, a Department of Energy sponsored program.

“It was more than adding some insulation and slapping on solar,” Murphy says. “We researched every piece of the home design right down to the screws, drywall and paint. We took a holistic approach, peeling back the skin and looking inside to see all the parts and how they work together harmoniously.”

Besides being energy efficient, North Pointe homes are loaded with sustainable materials, such as bamboo flooring, recycled glass countertops, and carpet with recycled content.

Murphy admits researching and testing was a challenge, but didn’t find it a chore. He viewed the scrapping, putting back together, and going back to the drawing board as fun. The real challenge, he says, was working with architectural designs that had already been approved by the local historic preservation committee. Obviously, historic houses don’t usually host solar, but the parties compromised on aesthetically-pleasing Schüco panels—the sleek, black modules hide well against charcoal shingles. The homes were actually the first historic buildings in the country to have solar approved on the front and side of their roofs.

Another challenge Murphy encountered was getting the HVAC (heating, ventilation and air conditioning) contractor to understand the design. He says the contractor had to practically throw his way of looking at a home out the window and work with a design that hadn’t been developed yet. But again, the NAHB intervened to help with the analytics of Nexus’ plan. Zanecki agrees the process was challenging, but worth it.

“The approval process is never fun,” he says, “but the city itself and all government leaders could not possibly have been more supportive. Their desire to get this up and going helped us move along.”

All the hard work paid off when the company finally broke ground in January 2011 and opened sales in the summer of 2011. The final models run for a mere $285,000-$320,000, considered affordable for the Washington D.C. area.

The home maintains traditional architecture but inside it’s strikingly sophisticated. Humidity is monitored and kept at comfortable levels year-round, along with a constant temperature across four floors. Mold spores, mildew, and animal dander are filtered through a whole house HEPA filtration system to ensure the highest quality indoor air—a godsend for those who suffer from allergies. Such features have made homeowner response overwhelmingly positive.

“People enjoy a sense of luxury and livability,” Zanecki says. “The home is well-crafted and solid. For example, 7-in. walls provide peace and silence on one of the busiest streets in the city.”

Murphy says the neighborhood has come around full circle from the former remnants of a HUD revitalization project that reached a standstill with the recession.

The homes have attracted national attention with their EVHA 2012 Builder of the Year win, as well as the EVHA New Homes Gold Award for Production in Moderate Climate.

But even with the great success the company has already experienced, Murphy and Zanecki say it’s just the beginning. For them, the question is always how to continually innovate.

“I want to make homes that are better in every way—integrating all the best performing technologies under one roof,” Zanecki says. “Until that vision is realized, I keep pushing.”

Even from home to home within the North Pointe Community, features have changed as technology progresses. Murphy says he wants to ensure Nexus’ homeowners are offered the most current, cutting-edge technologies available. Of course, price is also a concern, but he is thankful for falling solar prices, large quantity discounts and home-system financial incentives that lower costs for homeowners.

“Initially, our homes might be 7 percent more expensive than conventional homes, but the overall cost of homeownership is much less,” he says.

Financial incentives beyond the reduction or elimination of power bills can include county incentives, Maryland state grants, and federal tax credits, and the utility savings alone will immediately outweigh the slight increase in mortgage payments.

The core of every Nexus home is NexusVision, an energy management system that allows homeowners to better manage their homes’ energy use and production. The system monitors energy consumption in every room and level of the home. Owners can access this data in real time on any computer, iPad or iPhone.

Another area that will continually see innovation is with the company’s NexusVision Smart System, a web-based tool that tracks home energy production and consumption. Homeowners can adjust climate controls, switch lights on or off, and control their security system from any computer or even their smart phones. In the future, this system may practically allow your home to talk to you, letting you know you left the door open or it’s time to change a filter.

The idea of a futuristic “smart house” is cool, but Zanecki says the system’s real value is allowing homeowners to easily monitor their energy use. Nexus builds the home so that it is capable of achieving net-zero, but it’s up to the homeowner to maintain it.

“If little Johnny is upstairs with five TVs, his stereo, phone charger and Xbox, and the home is using more power than it’s producing, NexusVision will show it,” Zanecki says. “It’s a measuring tool that we hope will help people become increasingly aware of how much energy they’re using, and learn from it.”

More people will be able to use such tools in their own net-zero home as the company takes their models elsewhere—they’ll need to, as North Pointe is averaging selling a home a week. Of course, Nexus will have to adjust their recipe for hot South Carolina summers and the area’s $250,000 to $260,000 market. Sites in Philadelphia must also be fitted for cold winters. It’s a lot of work, but Murphy says he loves it.

“Paul and I have a passion for this and it’s not even a job for us, just a fun journey and something we love to do,” he says.

Zanecki says he hopes the homes will offer freedom from rising energy costs, projected electric shortages, and reliance on foreign fossil fuels. He projects a strong 2012 and beyond for Nexus.

“It’s not hard to understand why we are succeeding in a market where other builders are struggling to make sales,” he says. “When you can buy a new home with the highest green-building technology and certifications combined with a modern layout and amenities, all for the same price of traditional homes, why would you choose anything else?”

To learn more about Nexus EnergyHomes, neighborhoods and communities, or Nexus custom homes, call 410.604.2870 or visit www.nexusenergyhomes.com 

Solar Power World

“The use of the DuPont™ PV5400 series ionomer encapsulants in CIGS modules demonstrates multiple benefits of the ionomer encapsulant’s inherent qualities,” said Penny Perry, global marketing manager, DuPont PV Encapsulants. “It provides strength to enable a frameless design, transparency for more design flexibility and ensures more power output over the life of the solar module.”

“The performance level of the PV5400 encapsulant was a key factor in these frameless solar modules receiving IEC certification,” said Ray Lin, sales and marketing manager, Axuntek. “CIGS technology offers the potential to reach higher efficiencies than other thin film technologies, and the choice of encapsulant is important to ensure the highest level of performance and long-term durability. DuPont™ PV5400 not only increases the modules’ durability and production efficiency, but can significantly enhance their long-term power-generating efficiency.”

The DuPont says its PV5400 Series is a good choice for use with CIGS technology; it has excellent UV resistance and does not generate free acid under degradation conditions. As a thermoplastic, it does not require cross-linking and thus has no peroxide or other degradation-inducing additives. The UV stability of ionomers is well demonstrated in its use for more than 15 years as a high-performing interlayer in architectural applications.

Because it is up to 100 times stiffer and 5 times stronger than traditional thin film laminating materials, the PV5400 encapsulant also minimizes module deflection and increases mechanical strength. The use of DuPont™ PV5400 can facilitate the design of modules for high strength applications, as well as meeting building codes for building-integrated window structures. Making use of the excellent clarity of the ionomer/glass combination, the cell spacing can be adjusted to create “see-through” frameless modules that appeal to the end-user’s aesthetic sense.

Dupont
www2.dupont.com/Photovoltaics 

Solar Power World

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“Solamet® PV17x series continue to advance technology to help meet the industry’s goal of 20 percent efficiency by 2012,” said Peter Brenner, photovoltaics global marketing manager, DuPont Microcircuit Materials. “This product has a two-stage advantage, since on its own it can raise efficiency by up to 0.2 percent, and when used to enable LDE, can raise efficiency by up to 0.4 percent. We’re very pleased to see such strong demand and are working to quickly increase supply capability for the growing customer base as it becomes qualified in stages through the next three months.”

Solamet® PV17x allows for contact to be made to the most lightly doped junctions. Doping diffusion optimization is a key area of experimental study in the photovoltaic industry for the design of high efficiency cells. Diffusion optimization has been significantly limited by the inability of traditional frontside photovoltaic silver pastes to contact lightly surface doped emitters. Dupont found the industry had no real commercially available option for making a screen printed frontside metallization that could economically and practically enable an LDE. However, the excellent silicon to silver contact of Solamet has demonstrated its capability to enable a wider range of diffusion optimization and higher cell efficiency.

Extensive testing is underway within DuPont and in collaboration with several research organizations as well as in customer trials to fully characterize and continue to advance this technology. For example, RWTH-Aachen University recently published a comparative study involving Solamet and four competing metallization pastes. Solamet outperformed four competing products, demonstrating its ability to contact 100 Ohm/sq emitters on multicrystalline cells – the first time this had been achieved – with lightly doped phosphorous surface concentration. This enabled an efficiency increase of one full percent versus the homogenous emitter base line and 0.4 percent higher efficiency was confirmed versus laser doped selective emitter technologies.

“We presented a characterization of POCl3 parameters influencing the electrically active phosphorus concentration profiles by electrochemical capacitance voltage measurements,” said Ali Safiei, (PhD researcher), Institute of Semiconductor Electronics at RWTH Aachen University. “For the first time we could demonstrate a successful direct contacting of an optimized high sheet resistance emitter at 100 Ω/sq by increasing the n++ layer and at the same time reducing the dead layer. Multicrystalline silicon solar cells were fabricated using five different silver pastes resulting in an absolute efficiency gain of Δη = 1 percent in comparison to a standard 55 Ω/sq emitter. Based on these investigations we evaluated a 160 Ω/sq emitter and could successfully demonstrate by laser doping that a n++ layer of up to 25 nm depth (a Lightly Doped Emitter) leads to high FF and an absolute efficiency gain of Δη > 0.6 percent.”

The breakthrough formulation of Solamet also enables cell makers to use up to 15 percent less material, in line with the company’s intent to accelerate product developments that help the photovoltaic industry reduce its dependence on silver metals and offset some of the impact that rising silver prices have on the cost of producing solar cells and solar modules.

Continued development on metallizations is ongoing with the aim of continuing to improve efficiency and further integrating Solamet pastes with complementary processes such as LDE and local back surface field (LBSF) cell architectures.

Dupont
www2.dupont.com/Photovoltaics/

Solar Power World

That’s good advice for anyone, and although I’ve never felt threatened here in Denver, I still make a point 16 years later of taking my badge off before I leave a convention center no matter where I am. But I have noticed here in the World Renewable Energy Forum that people aren’t as fastidious as I am about this. As I was riding the elevator, I saw at least two people  wearing the badges. I made a point to telling them about the idea of “mug-me” badges, trying to pass on the wisdom of my elders now that I myself am one. The response? Laughter.

I guess I’m not a helpful sage — I’m just old.

Here are a few observations from the show floor and the sessions out here in Denver:

• I heard a great presentation from Joanna Lewis, an assistant professor of science, technology and international affairs from Georgetown University, on U.S.-China technology transfer and the effect it has had on the renewable energy industry. She believes that both sides need to ratchet down the rhetoric and look for ways to collaborate instead of battle, and she offered other options that the sides could use to resolve issues. It’s something everyone in the industry needed to hear, but unfortunately the session was sparsely attended.
• Speaking of lightly attended, I’ve been a little surprised at how many of the sessions I’ve seen have three or four people in them. Let’s face it: With 1,800 total attendees, there shouldn’t be sessions like that.
• As I walked the show floor yesterday, I had heard from several major companies say that they will likely pull out of this show next year. They say the attendees aren’t key customers, and the show is just getting too small to justify the investment of getting a booth and a team to this show. They don’t feel they are getting the appropriate bang for their book here. It will be interesting to see how well attended next year’s show in Baltimore is.
• I can’t believe I had forgotten this, but thankfully my good friend Devon Cichoski of SolarWorld reminded me so I’m on high alert. The U.S. Department of Commerce, which has been investigating Chinese solar panel manufacturers since October 2011 to see if they are illegally distorting the market, will be handing down its decision in an anti-dumping complaint filed last fall by a coalition of solar panel manufacturers. (For a little background on the issue, I covered the first part of this decision in this post of mine from PV America West in March.) The decision on tariffs was disappointing to U.S. manufacturers, but Chinese companies were thrilled. There were wildly diverse predictions about how the tariff decision was going to go, and the same is going on about tomorrow’s announcement. All I will predict is that the people here at the World Renewable Energy Forum will be on the edge of their seats — and I will report on the story as soon as I get information.

I’ve learned a lot so far at this conference despite its size, so I’m glad I came. There will be more reporting to come as I am here for the duration. Stay tuned.

Solar Power World

Also, add external surface temperature with 3M adhesive for back of solar module temperature. The sensor has configurable communication to work with nearly any PLC, Datalogger or SCADA system communicating using MODBUS-RTU, ASCII, SDI-12 or Analog.

Additional features include;

- Improved functionality of the built in digital compass with accuracy to 1 degree
- Optional external tipping bucket rain gauge
- Optional external ambient temperature sensor
- Optional heated or low power energy saving mode
- Optional external leaf wetness sensor for agricultural applications

All of these new features are available with the complete line of Lufft WS family of weather sensors. There are nine sensors to choose from based on the measurement needs of your solar project.

LufftUSA Inc.
www.lufft.com

Solar Power World

The solar modules will be used for planned solar projects on 100 medical clinics throughout the Republic of Uganda. The medical clinics are located largely in remote areas of the country. The installations will include both grid tied and off-grid photovoltaic systems and will include battery back up and related services to ensure that the systems continue to operate in a stand-alone fashion.

The solar project represents one of the first major export contracts for Eclipsall, which manufactures solar modules and provides end-to-end solar PV services from its plant in Toronto, Ontario.

“This is a major accomplishment for our company”, said Eclipsall CEO Les Lyster. “Manufacturing for export to developing countries who see solar as a strategic alternative energy option, has been a key component of our business plan. To have it coming to fruition is very satisfying.”

Uganda relies heavily on hydro and diesel and the country has been subjected to rolling black outs.

Eclipsall Energy Corp.
www.eclipsall.com
 

Solar Power World

Cogentrix Energy, LLC, a nationally active independent power provider based in Charlotte, NC, said it choose the solar inverters  because of their product performance at high altitudes and track record for reliable operation in harsh desert conditions.

The site is interconnected at the 115-kV transmission level and uses a photovoltaic system controller, allowing the operator to choose between a variety of smart grid operating modes. The photovoltaic system can provide large amounts of reactive power, closed loop power factor control, as well as AC voltage regulation. Moreover, the controller can throttle the site’s solar energy output to help regulate the grid frequency, when needed.

Solectria Inverters
www.solren.com 

Solar Power World

SolarAnywhere software from Clean Power Research can help with these solar challenges. The solar software uses High Resolution irradiance data and newly patented fleet analysis methodologies that together provide unprecedented insight into the impact of distributed solar PV on grid operation. SolarAnywhere FleetView addresses the need for fleet management by enabling utilities and ISOs to cost-effectively and reliably integrate distributed PV into the grid, allowing for higher PV penetration and reducing costs for utilities, ratepayers and photovoltaic system owners.

“After successfully deploying more distributed PV than any other state, this solar software will fill a vital role in California by ensuring reliable and cost-effective integration of the renewable energy generated by those systems,” said Michael R. Peevey, president of the California Public Utilities Commission.

The solar software addresses these challenges by offering a scalable approach to estimating and analyzing the impact of any defined fleet of PV systems, whether located on a distribution feeder or spread across a load balancing area.

“Understanding how distributed PV impacts grid operations has been a clear focus for the utilities we’ve worked with in researching this technology,” said Tom Hoff, president of Research and Consulting at Clean Power Research. “But the expense and difficulty of obtaining the information needed to do integration studies has traditionally been very high. We’ve developed a scalable and affordable solution that employs satellite-derived irradiance data rather than data gathered from ground sensors. This data, combined with our patented fleet variability analytics, makes it possible to conduct a wide range of planning studies and forecast power output without large infrastructure investments. Reducing costs and enabling more PV integration benefits everyone by preserving the value that comes from renewable energy generation.”

Studies have shown that spreading photovoltaic systems out over a large service area mitigates the problem of short-term variability, making it easier for grid operators to manage. Recent research using SolarAnywhere fleet variability methodologies found that geographic dispersion also has a similar positive effect on the accuracy of variability predictions. These results give utilities and ISOs confidence in the ability of solar software such as SolarAnywhere FleetView to provide the data needed to cost-effectively maintain grid stability even as PV penetration increases.

To read more about this study, the paper “Predicting Short-Term Variability of High-Penetration PV” is available for download.
SolarAnywhere FleetView
Key to SolarAnywhere FleetView is the ability to collect irradiance data at the short time intervals required to calculate ramp rates for planning and short-term forecasting. SolarAnywhere High Resolution data is the first satellite-derived irradiance data available in the U.S. with a resolution of 1 km x 1 km at 1 minute-intervals.

Also key to these services is the ability to calculate variability of a defined fleet of photovoltaic systems. In April, Clean Power Research was granted three patents on the PV fleet variability methodologies used in SolarAnywhere FleetView.

Learn more in the whitepaper “Behind-the-Meter Intelligence for Distributed PV Grid Integration,” available for download.

SolarAnywhere Irradiance Data
SolarAnywhere is the leading source of downloadable satellite-derived solar irradiance data for the continental U.S. and Hawaii. The lab of Dr. Richard Perez at the University at Albany (SUNY) provides models and research innovations for SolarAnywhere, which are an evolution of Perez’s work as encompassed in the “SUNY gridded data” of the National Solar Resource Database (NSRDB).

SolarAnywhere forecast, real-time and historical data is now available in three resolutions to meet a variety of planning and operational needs. Interested users can get started by accessing data free of charge at www.solaranywhere.com.

Clean Power Research
www.cleanpower.com

Solar Power World

Those are the first words that greet you as you exit the parking garage at the Colorado Convention Center in downtown Denver, where I am attending the World Renewable Energy Forum this week.

Sure enough, as you walk down 14th St. to get to the front entrance of the facility, there is a 40-foot Blue Bear with its nose pressed up against the windows, watching the people inside scurry around to get the latest information on renewable energy. There was plenty of information to keep the bear interested.

(Why a Big Blue Bear? Read the whole column to find out what it’s really all about.)*

First off, I wanted to attend a session on how the Colorado Convention Center installed its solar PV system, but when I found my way down to the room, a helpful World Renewable Energy Forum volunteer informed me that it had been cancelled. No reason was given, and that’s the first time in my career that I’ve ever seen that happen. But the volunteer presented me with my other options, and I decided to take in a session on the role of renewable energy in energy security.

I’ve heard speakers at other conferences I’ve attended discuss this issue before, and they have pretty much all said that, at least at its current penetration into the generation cycle, energy security is not the best argument for solar energy experts to make. This panel, however, begged to differ.

The general consensus of the panelists was that solar energy is the perfect way to increase energy security by taking it out of the hands of a few big generation plants and distributing it more equally around the country on rooftops and in ground-mounted solar farms. In other words, the grid will be less susceptible to going down or to terrorist attacks if there are more targets that they would have to hit instead of simply a few large coal-fired plants that we have now.

This is a wonderful idea in theory. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for a while, and in theory I agree with the panelists. But it does beg a really big question: How is the solar industry going to wrest generation control from the utilities that are not yet willing to give up centralized control over electricity production? I posed the question to the panelists, but they didn’t give much of an answer. They talked around the issue, but never got to the heart of what I asked.

That leads me to believe that the central issue — how to break the ultility’s stranglehold on generation — has yet to be resolved. Until it is, I don’t see solar energy as an effective way to increase energy security. Maybe we’ll get there someday, but right now it remains a question as to how quickly we’ll be able to do that — or if we’re going to be able to do it at all.

The other session I had the pleasure of attending was one cleverly called “A Break in the Clouds: Assessing Growth in the Solar Labor Market.” It was admirably hosted by Andrea Luecke, executive director of The Solar Foundationand featured several speakers on the subject of jobs in the solar market.

Luecke said the most recent statistics tell a story of rapid job growth in solar — up 6.8% from 2010 to 2011. In contrast, the number of jobs in fossil fuel production fell 2% (go solar!). The two fastest positions in the industry that are growing are installers and sales reps. Then Luecke made an excellent point about the installation jobs:

“They are inherently local jobs,” Luecke said. “You’re not going to ship your house to China and have panels installed.”

She’s right — and the rest of the panelists (Phil Jordan of BW Research Partnership, Neal Lurie of COSEIA, Meghan Nutting, Director of Government Affairs for SolarCity (who, as an aside, are hiring four new people a day throughout their organization worldwide) and Regina Matthews of SMA Americas backed her point.

Needless to say, it’s been an exciting show so far. I’ve learned a lot, and I hope I’ve been able to share some of my insights with you. Watch for more of Solar Power World’s coverage from the World Renewable Energy Forum tomorrow — and for the rest of the week.

*The Big Blue Bear, a sculpture actually called “I See What You Mean,” was designed by local Denver artist Lawrence Argent and was installed at the Convention Center in 2005. Denver.org (the website of the Denver Convention and Visitors Bureau) did a Q&A with Argent, which I will excerpt here:

VISIT DENVER: Why a bear? Why a giant, curious blue bear, specifically?

Lawrence Argent: There’s iconic Colorado imagery – the Rockies, the Flatirons and all that – that I think is a little bit overused, a little passé. So I thought about what it is like to be a resident here and the journey one takes down either corridor (14th St. and Speer Blvd) when one notices there is a convention occurring. I’m always interested in what might be going on in there, the exchange of information, ideas and ideologies. But there’s never really any indication from the outside what’s going on inside. I had recently seen a photo in the newspaper of a black bear looking into someone’s window and that resonated with me. As for the blue color, that was actually an accident – originally the bear was going to reflect the colors of Colorado, with sandstone colors and things like that. But a printout of the design came back blue by mistake, and I thought that was much more exciting. And it was serendipitous, because [I learned later] that the black bear was very important to the Native American Ute tribes that lived in Colorado – and also that one level of spiritual enlightenment for the Utes was the “blue” level.

As Paul Harvey used to say, “And now you know — the rest of the story.

Solar Power World

There are two fundamental solar module grounding issues discussed in the report. The first issue is that there are limited numbers of approved (listed) grounding methods, despite a variety of installation methods and components available for grounding solar module frames. The report discusses the current development activities on three UL standards that will clarify the listing issue for dedicated photovoltaic system module frame grounding components.

The second issue discussed in the report is the lack of confidence in existing approved grounding methods due largely to failures observed in the field. These failures are often the result of loss of mechanical integrity, installation error, or damage from corrosion. The report includes results of a recent UL study on accelerated aging tests of solar module grounding connections in which different types of photovoltaic system grounding connectors were installed and tested in environmental chambers using both continuous damp heat and salt mist exposure.

“The Solar ABCs commissioned this work with the intent of providing the PV industry with practical guidelines and procedures for module grounding,” said Larry Sherwood, Solar ABCs Project Administrator, “The objective of the overall grounding PV module study is to make recommendations for 
an integrated set of tests and procedures that can be incorporated into the standards governing the grounding of photovoltaic system components.”

The results of the current tests described in this report reinforce the conclusions of a UL 1703 Standards Technical Panel (STP) subcommittee charged with developing new language for the Bonding and Grounding section. These tests combined existing low current tests with tests derived from UL 467 that are designed to ensure proper operation of overcurrent protection devices.

In addition, this report considers personnel safety and explores various fault scenarios in conjunction with International Electrotechnical Commission data describing body impedances and harmful levels of current to provide generalized methods of evaluating ground resistance limits. It also discusses more generalized design criteria using National Electrical Code principles. From a listing standpoint, the current test regimes recommended here should adequately address safety issues such as touch safe voltages and currents.

The standards are still undergoing significant change, so this report concludes with general recommendations for ensuring proper grounds based on field experience and feedback received throughout the course of this study. These recommendations include:

• Complete the proposed changes to the existing standards to improve the method and quality of ground connections.

• Elicit additional industry feedback from the accelerated aging test study to determine if and how these or similar tests might be incorporated into standard testing.

• Be aware of and make use of the new and expanded set of channels for listing module grounding equipment.

• Be aware of the principles of module frame grounding, the type of faults that may occur, and the implications for safety and ground system design.

• Follow the specific design and installation recommendations enumerated in this report, such as using proper materials and components, following manufacturer instructions, using torque wrenches to ensure proper tightening of connections, and avoiding connections of dissimilar metals that lead to corrosion, among others.

Download the full report: www.solarabcs.org/grounding

SolarABC’s
www.solarabcs.org

Solar Power World

The Solar modules have been manufactured at Motech’s Newark site for over 20 years. Under the terms of the agreement Motech will work to support Silicon Energy in delivering US-made standard solar modules.

“Silicon Energy is committed to manufacturing the best possible solar module on the market. We are excited to add Motech’s high quality, ARRA/ U.S.-made standard module as a distributed offering to our already highly successful line of Silicon Energy Cascade modules that are locally manufactured in Washington and Minnesota,” commented Gary Shaver, President of Silicon Energy. “Motech’s high quality standard module nicely rounds out our solar offerings. The distribution partnership between Silicon Energy and Motech helps to provide even greater value to our customers in installations where a standard module may fit their specific installation needs better.”

Motech Americas
www.motech-americas.com

Silicon Energy
www.silicon-energy.com 

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Selected executives from across the nation will join the program. Targeted executives are those who have built successful companies in different sectors such as aerospace, biotechnology and enterprise technology. Executives with more than 20 years of experience, an advanced degree and experience leading a venture-backed start-up company are encouraged to apply. Each candidate must have a strong desire to transition into the cleantech industry through accelerated training, networking and technology exposure.

“Colorado is a hub for cleantech. There is an abundance of market-ready research and technology here to drive the success of this program,” said Wayne Greenberg, director of the Cleantech Fellows Institute. “The executives selected will have access to virtually unlimited resources, build an invaluable national network of cleantech stakeholders and have the opportunity to launch venture backed companies in one of the industry’s most innovative and supportive communities.”

“We’re thrilled to be a founder of the CFI and we look forward to working closely with experienced executives who can incorporate fresh ideas into leading successful cleantech start-ups,” said Christine Shapard, executive director of Colorado Cleantech Industry Association. “This will be the first year of the program and I’m confident that it will prove to be one of the nation’s most practical and motivating programs to advance the cleantech industry.”

CFI was created by the Colorado Cleantech Industry Association (CCIA) and is supported by the Department of Energy’s (DOE) National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL) and Advanced Energy Economy (AEE), a national business organization of which CCIA is a founding chapter. The CFI program builds on a regional program developed by the New England Clean Energy Council, another AEE member, and takes it national in scope.

This new program begins on Sept.17 with executives immersed in a highly interactive curriculum. Eight weeks of the 17-week program will be held on-site at various locations throughout Colorado such as the Colorado School of Mines, University of Colorado, Colorado State University and NREL. Seven weeks will be held “virtually” as webinars taught by nationally recognized experts in advanced energy. The executives will also participate in valuable networking events such as evening debates, speaking sessions, and exclusive dinners.

Approximately 20 percent of the program will be dedicated to intensive study of the energy industry and the regulatory, capital and structural challenges the industry faces. Topics will include overviews of wind, solar, renewable fuels and electricity markets, as well as the state of venture deal terms in cleantech and the outlook for exits. The participants will also study which industry niches are securing the most venture investment to best position their companies. Areas of in-depth study include advanced transportation technologies, energy storage, clean energy technologies and energy efficiency and building technologies.

The key to the program’s success will be the executives’ exposure to commercial-ready technologies from Colorado sources. Working with the universities and NREL as well as various business incubators such as CleanLaunch, the executives will develop a deep understanding of the technologies being researched at each institution. Each executive will select a technology that sparks their interest and plan a capstone project to present in January, in advance of graduation on Jan. 11, 2013. The capstone project includes a market and technology assessment as well as the building of an initial business plan for a potential new cleantech company.

“One of the challenges in the advanced energy sector is finding the right talent to turn cutting-edge technologies into successful companies,” said Graham Richard, CEO of Advanced Energy Economy. “The Cleantech Fellows Institute is a perfect example of identifying special individuals outside of the clean energy industry – whether that be technology or other sectors – and helping them acquire the expertise they need to succeed in the dynamic, competitive advanced energy marketplace. We’re very proud to support this program, which is the result of a true collaboration between two of our founding state partners.”

Cleantech Fellows Institute
cleantechfellows.com 

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